We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chelsea Madison a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Chelsea, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
As a parent of two beautiful tongue tied children, I know the struggles first time moms can go through. Breastfeeding issues, “Colic”, reflux-like symptoms, sleep concerns, solid food issues are all things that people do not talk about enough. It has become my goal and mission with the practice to have access to care to all moms who need it. Whether it be with lactation support or oral tie support, we want to bridge the gap for those that are in need.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
CHELSEA MADISON, OWNER
Certified Specialist in Orofacial Myology, Certified Breastfeeding Specialist, IBCLC-Candidate
I began my journey due to my own son having all of the classic signs of tongue tie, and received no help from my support team. This was such a hard time for us and I saw no end in sight. We managed, but we did not thrive.
I started with just watching as infants were treated in the office for lip and tongue ties. Soon after that I began my journey learning about MyoFunctional disorders that were caused by lip, tongue or cheek ties. Slowly I started treating patients and understanding how something that is undiagnosed like tongue ties or oral dysfunction could cause life long issues.
I did training with and am Certified through the Academy of Orofacial MyoFunctional Therapy. I have an additional Certification through the Graduate School of Behavioral Health Sciences with Coulson Institute for Orofacial Myology. I then did training to become a specialist in Infant Oral Motor Therapy so that I could expand the age range that I worked with. In-between the different MyoFunctional training I did, I did training with an amazing Occupational Therapist to learn about cranial nerve dysfunctions and how it can affect infants and also became TummyTime! Method certified. I am a Certified Breastfeeding Counselor and Certified Breastfeeding Specialist who is currently working toward IBCLC and am on track for a THIRD Certification through IAOM. I believe that having as much training as possible will benefit my patients.
My BIGGEST goal as the practice owner is to have access to care. Assessing oral ties is our speciality in the practice. The symptoms that we work with mostly in the practice are: feeding issues (breast or bottle), mouth breathing, tonsil and adenoid issues, recurrent ear infections, speech issues, snoring or sleep apnea issues, TMJ pain, crowding of teeth and much more.
Have you ever had to pivot?
I was working as a Registered Dental Hygienist and was happy and content with my career. It was not until my own child suffered from a tongue tie and had so many feeding issues that I began to change paths and try to help those in need.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I believe that our passion for helping our clients is what has set us apart from the rest of the industry. Just like in any field, there are bad, good and EXCELLENT providers. We are a business full of EXCELLENT providers.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thebreathewellgroup.com/
- Instagram: instagram.com/thebreathewellgroup
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=the%20breathewell%20group
Image Credits
Photos of ties of my family and stock photo of tongue thrust photo.